Thursday, December 21, 2017

Guptas could lose jet over unpaid bills

The Gupta jet registered as ZS-OAK faces being impounded as the Saxonwold family close to beleaguered President Jacob Zuma appears to have run out of money to make scheduled repayments.

The Financial Mail has reliably learnt that the Canadian government’s export credit agency, which provided a soft loan for 80% of the finance required for the jet, has instituted legal action against the Guptas for defaulting on their payments.

The agency, Export Development Canada (EDC), promotes the growth of Canadian businesses abroad by providing finance to international customers who buy products from that country.
Documents contained in the Gupta e-mail leaks show that by October 14, when the next US$1.4m payment for the aircraft fell due, the Guptas still owed $28.3m to EDC.

Sources in the aviation industry told the Financial Mail that EDC had in November grounded the aircraft at Lanseria airport for 48 hours "due to nonpayment. It would appear that a bank (unknown to us) provided the guarantee of funds and the EDC released the aircraft". This was confirmed by another source.

Flight records for ZS-OAK show that since it departed from Lanseria, the aircraft travelled mostly between India and Dubai, where the Guptas have property and business interests. But on December 13 it flew from Dubai to Zurich, where it remained for six days before taking a 36-minute hop to EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg in France on Tuesday evening.
21/12/17 Business Live

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